Reincarnated As The Dark Knight

'I made it. I made it back home'

He stood before what was once his home, scanning the whole area to be sure of what remained. It seemed like the Hawkhurst barony had been looted because no one was here all this while. The doors were broken, food stalls were completely empty. Stables and houses were also empty.

'Wait, is this even home?'

Artur stood in silence for a long time. He could not help but wonder why the Hawkhurst barony was attacked and most of all, how did they even get there. The Hawkhurst barony was surrounded by many other cities and lands so even if they found a way into Evershire, they should not have been able to reach Hawkhurst.

Artur went into the house and explored every inch of it like it was his first time there. Most of the valuable stuff had been taken, even the kitchen utensils from cutlery and dishes to cooking utensils like pots and stoves. The chairs, tables, beds, pillows, clothes in the wardrobes, shoes, they were nowhere to be found, There was a huge hole in the roof too.

"Freaking looter bastards, why didn't you just take the whole land with you instead?"

Artur went around some more. Even his room was not spared from the looting. He visited his father's then his mother's library and it was clear to him that those who raided the house were not fans of books, or was it just respect for books. All the bookshelves, no, the entire library was untouched, not a single book out of place and everything was the same except for the dust.

While thoughts of his family filled his head something else followed.

***

Young Artur stood holding a stuffed animal and stared at the door that was at the end of the curved stairs. He wanted to go in and see what was inside but just then his father came out of nowhere and placed a hand on his shoulder. 

"Artur what are you doing here?"

"Dad? Angela said her doll fell down here and she was too scared to come get it"

"It's good that you are helping your friend. Now go back upstairs"

Victor went past Artur and continued down the stairs with his usual warm smile still on his face. 

"Dad?"

"Yes Artur?"

"What's down there?"

"Don't worry about it. It's nothing you should be worried about, besides, you are still too young

"But I'm mature"

"That's why I said you are still too young" Victor said "Now go back upstairs and play with Angela. You must never come down here until I say so , ok?"

"Ok" He watched until his father disappeared behind the door. That was the second room in the house that he was not allowed to go into.

***

Artur stood before the door now. He was dying to know what his father was keeping from him so badly. There was no point in staying away now.

"I'm sorry dad. You said not to come down here until you said do but if I don't find out now, how will I ever know?"

He could still feel that strong urge to go in that he felt the first and last time he was there. It made him feel like there was something behind that door calling him. He touched the door handle and the door immediately opened up, like someone had been in there.

He pushed the door open and some torches lit themselves up to brighten the room with the yellow glow of their flames. To his dismay, Artur found that the place was empty, except for the torches nothing else was there.

"What in the world? These looter bast- no"

Something was wrong, definitely wrong. Artur knew his father to be a cautious and well calculated man. He came down to this room quite often, there was no way he would not put some kind of lock to keep others out, especially curious Artur. This had to be a mistake. 

On the wall at the far end of the room was a huge painting of the Loxley emblem. It looked nice to Artur and he could not help but walk over and touch it.

'What's this doing here?'

His fingers traced the golden lines of the painting and he punched the wall.

'This thing has no meaning anymore so why? Why am I so drawn to it and most of all, who was that man?'

He recalled the events that took place before his escape. Just before his escape some guy appeared out of nowhere with his family emblem on his back, why would he be wearing such if he was not part of the Loxley family? Was it some from his father's side, there was no clue.

Artur touched the wall in many places, believing that Victor would have have done some security. After spending almost half an hour searching without finding anything he concluded that looters must have taken everything.

'Still I feel like something is in this room, the floor maybe?' He checked the floor too but still found nothing. 'It's natural that dad wouldn't use something so obvious. I'm only stirring up dust but something about this room keeps bugging me'

He also tried pulling the torches but nothing happened. They were firm, he was frustrated. Spending almost an hour in there without finding anything would naturally break anyone's will but Artur was not ready to give up. He punched the wall and stomped the ground everywhere but time went by and he achieved nothing. 

'Why did I even think of doing that? My hands are all bruised now but what is with that torch?' He stared at a torch at his right the flames flickered against a none existent wind. 'There can't be any draught in this place so why is it like that?'

He went to the torch and pulled it again but it was still firm in the wall. 

'Something is off about this, am I looking at things in the wrong direction. Dad would leave a clue or two, never the answer'

The flames kept flickering and Artur soon noticed that there was a pattern to its bursts. 

"Whoa, so this is it, why didn't I think of this sooner"

***

"Dad why do I have to learn this? It's so boring" Artur rested his head on his books while his father stood by the board writing some symbols and his mother sat at the end of the library reading a book.

"Vivian, why don't you tell your son the importance of learning the family's Tap code?" Victor said.

"But there isn't much importance in learning the code anyway, you never use it"

"What, do you have any idea how many times this code has saved this kingdom"

"Yes, I know , your great great grandfather and great great great grandfather used in in the war of Seven Tides two hundred years ago. Honey, I've that story a million times"

"Then let's make it a million and one"

"Absolutely not"

"You see Artur, this is a code unique to the Loxley family and every member of the family is supposed to learn this at the age of eight but because of your situation we decided to move it till now that you're ten"

"But I don't want to learn it. It's boring"

 "I was also like you when I first started. Once you understand the logic behind it it's so easy to understand. You'll have to learn it. I will be communicating with you from time to time in Tap code so I want you to answer me. When it's time for you to start replying in Tap code I'll let you know"

"What a pain"

***

'Who knows what would have happened if I refused to learn it. Thanks dad'

The Loxley tap code was not really different from the tap code that Artur knew prior to coming to this world but the difference was clear. The taps were in reverse order from his world but the alphabets were still the same even if the writing style was different. He watched the movements of the flames with intense concentration and soon he turned his head at the emblem.

He went to the front of the emblem and bit his thumb. Blood poured out and he used it to draw a triangle joining the top of the bells and the head of the stallion together. He took his hand off when he was done and waited a bit. 

His blood suddenly lighted up and burned away from the surface of the wall. 

The wall groaned as it caved in and slid sideways, revealing a narrow dark passageway behind it. Torches that lined the walls of the passageway suddenly came to life with luminating flames for whoever could access them to see.

A sly grin spread across Artur's face as he stepped into the passageway. He was ready to uncover the secret that his dear father had hidden away from him for so long.